Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/108



They reel when my mother by chance falls a-scolding.

My father can kick e'en the loftiest roof-tree.

My mother can ride through the rapidest river.

Have you other garments besides those rags?

Ho, you should just see my Sunday clothes!

My week-day gown is of gold and silk.

It looks to me liker tow and straws.

Ay, there is one thing you must remember:— This is the Rondë-folk's use and wont: All our possessions have two-fold form. When shall you come to my father's hall, It well may chance that you're on the point Of thinking you stand in a dismal moraine.

Well now, with us its precisely the same. Our gold will seem to you litter and trash! And you'll think, mayhap, every glittering pane Is nought but a bunch of old stockings and clouts.